It’s everywhere. That light, fluffy and deceptively alluring objectionable white stuff has covered my world and created once more a Winter Wonderland. Wonder, as in wondering why the heck am I not living where global warming is having a greater effect???

Over the course of the past week we’ve managed to collect at least 18″ of the dreadful four letter S word, with temps plummeting into the single digits here in the valley, lower still once you head into Little Canada (north county) where the wind blows.

This morning after feeding hungry horses and sheep, I grabbed my camera and took a few photos in the pre-dawn moments. Despite the cold, I was determined to capture the horror of my situation here and share it with you.

Darling’s mind has completely gone. Snow madness, I suspect. I came inside and found her editing a video she’d shot of herself riding Sandy out in the snow…she had her arms stretched out like she was an airplane as he jogged in circles.

“What the heck are you doing?” I demanded in my best mother voice.

“I figure this is the time to try riding with no hands; the landing’s got to be softer!”

Kids!

I am currently training a new horse for the Northwest Extreme Mustang Makeover! If you’d like to keep up with what Darling and I are doing on a more regular basis, please visit the Mustang Diaries.

I went to make my morning hot chocolate…and my can is nigh empty! Not nearly enough for even half a cup! Oh…how could I have been so distracted as to not refill my chocolate… 😯 How will I function today? The horses are just darned lucky I managed to stumble out to them in the dark and feed prior to being deprived of my morning’s blood transfusion…

Last week Darling and I drove down to Burns, Oregon, where I picked up my new Mustang Makeover competition horse. It was lovely. The sky was blue. There was no mud. Sure, it was a bit chilly, but it was better than the mud that oozes through the holes in a farm diva’s boots back home.

While there we took a drive with a friend up to the Steens Mountains where we were blessed to come upon a large herd of horses. Wild horses. No fences…just thousands and thousands of acres. It was a desperate horsewife’s dream, to be surrounded by mustangs so close you could nearly touch them. And yes, I do mean we were that close! And yes, I do mean wild! But we were quiet, not disruptive, and while the older stallions watched with suspicion from the top of the ridge, the younger horses stuck to their guns and continued to graze peacefully while we lustfully filled our cameras with images of this oh-so-amazing experience.

Back home, however, the skies are nothing like they were in Burns. They are gray and dripping and dreary and threatening to snow on us. They have created mud that sucks even my beloved muck boots from my feet when I go outside to work the horses.

Yesterday I was working with the new boy, Steve Holt!, and once finished I found I’d gained 20 lbs from the mud that was now caked on my jeans and sweatshirt. I got the brainy idea that I should grab Darling’s little camera and video myself. But when I played it back, I looked stupid. Not the normal embarrassing stupid that I normally look like…I haven’t got an issue with that…I was just totally dorky! I couldn’t figure out how to delete the video, though, and wouldn’t you know that Darling found it? And she’s threatening me with it!

“I’m going to call it, The Stupid Things My Mother Does,” she said with an evil grin as she ran off with my embarrassing moments. Some gratitude from the kid who gave me stretch marks, or who’s most embarrassing video of her I deleted for all eternity. Now I’m wishing I’d kept it so that I had something to blackmail her with!

If so…why didn’t you tell me about this wonderful little spot on the net?

I was minding my own business, fiddling around with photobucket, when I spotted an ad for turning photos into puzzles. I made a mental note because I was thinking of creating one as a Christmas gift. Turns out I should have used a sticky note, because my mental note seems to have slipped away and is now under the mental couch, or maybe behind the mental fridge? All I know for sure is that it’s no longer where I can read it and I’ve been unable to figure out how to make that photo puzzle. I searched all over the Photobucket site to no avail.

However…I did stumble across this tiny, obscure little tidbit called Scrapblog.

Oh.

My.

Word!!!

Could it be that for once my mental lapse has actually provided me with something utterly delightful? Indeed, that would seem to be the case. I played and played and played some more, and before I knew it, two days had gone by, the horses were outside hollering for feed, the sheep were crying for grain and City Boy…well…I’m not sure where he is.

I wish I could post the actual ‘book’, but for whatever reason WordPress has decided I shouldn’tne does not argue with WordPress… Should you want to give this a try for yourself (and I’m sure you’ll be much better at it than I), visit Scrapblog!